Turkey Day is again upon us Thursday.

 

It’s a day where we commune with family and friends - with good conversation and good food.

 

It’s also a time when we can stop and be quiet, remembering the many good things about our lives here in Sherburne County.

 

I think of my parents, Franklin and Ethel Selma Evangeline, more now than ever - three decades after they passed on to the Lutheran Choir in the Sky.

 

I strongly suspect I didn’t become a parent because I realized I didn’t want to have kids like me. (Or some of my siblings, for that matter.)

 

We weren’t bad kids; we just did enough miserable things to test their religions.

 

Like the summer day in the 1950’s when Mom trucked us off to Dr. Pattison’s dental office in downtown St. Cloud.

 

Our appointments had finished, so Mom wrapped things up by getting into his chair.

 

While she was being attended to, we four Meyer kids took balloons we got from the dentist, went into the hallway, filled them with water, found an open window to the street from our second floor perch, and calmly dropped them on pedestrians below.

 

It was a rough ride home with Mom in the Meyers’ 1950 black and blue Dodge half-ton pickup.

 

So, why am I thankful?

 

I’m thankful Mom didn‘t surrender us to Catholic Charities.

 

Somehow, this beautiful couple gained the willpower to out-duel us and bring us to adulthood, after which our fledging from the Meyer nest may have been more like a major push.

 

But they were with us over all the years.

 

For that I am grateful.

 

They’re teaching us about life was like leading - until the leading didn’t work.

 

Then, the pushing began.

 

So, Parents, I’m thankful for you.

 

There are a lot of things to be thankful for - on our site at Bank Street in Becker.

 

We’re thankful for the wonderful schools, their teachers who make things work - and the parents who make things work even better by being involved in their kids’ education.

 

(More of the leading and pushing concept.)

 

We’re thankful for our community leaders who work to enhance all the amenities of our area - there’s plenty to do.

 

And, don’t forget the libraries.

 

I’m thankful for the very talented and goal-minded staffers we have at the Citizen-Tribune, for all their contributions each week.

 

Not once in my 17 years with this newspaper have I been greeted with anything other than a big smile and hello as I walked in.

 

There’s Chris Meyer and Roberta Hibbison up front to greet the customers; Carol Hanson and Mary Nehring to wait on their advertising needs; there’s Bill Morgan and Penny Leuthard to expertly cover the stories and photography. They pitch in and help each other.

 

I’m proud of them. I’m grateful for them.

 

And, of course, I’m grateful for the one ex-officio  proofreader of our staff, Muriel Alickson at the bank, who has to remind me occasionally, “You mis-spelled a word last week.”

 

Bless you all. You make the day go well.